1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-taking method and apparatus and, in particular, to an image-taking method and apparatus for taking images of people.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compact digital cameras generally employ contrast autofocus (AF) system on AF system.
In the contrast AF, in general, focusing is achieved by obtaining focus evaluation values (evaluation values representing the sharpness of images) in a focus evaluation area one by one while moving a focus lens from infinity to a close distance, searching for the peak position of the obtained focus evaluation values, and moving the focus lens to the peak position found, thereby obtaining correct focus.
The contrast AF has a drawback that focusing on a low-contrast subject tends to result in an out-of-focus image because the focusing is based on the contrast of the subject.
In order to solve the problem, a camera has been proposed that includes the function of taking multiple images of the same subject with a single shot while shifting the focus positions (focus bracketing function).
When the focus bracketing function is used to shoot a subject, a process for choosing an image is required after the shooting because multiple images are taken with one shot. The process is typically performed by using a display provided in the camera to check the taken images one by one to determine the degree of focus.
However, the display provided in a camera is small and displays images in a low resolution. Therefore, it is difficult to check a fine degree of focus.
Therefore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-135029 proposes a method in which focus evaluation values for images taken by using the focus bracketing function are calculated, the image with the highest focus evaluation value is chosen as the best image, and the chosen image is automatically recorded.